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Hannah Pingree is a former speaker of the Maine House of Representatives and former director of the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future. She is a Democratic candidate for governor.
Housing is not just another policy challenge. It’s the issue that touches every corner of our state. The housing crisis is threatening our economy and impacting the lives of thousands of Maine people. And if we don’t tackle it with urgency and scale, we risk losing the very fabric of our communities.
Every day since I announced that I’m running for governor, I’ve heard the same thing: families, seniors, and young people are being priced out of their communities. Renters can’t find apartments they can afford, first-time homebuyers are outbid again and again, and small businesses tell me they can’t hire enough workers because there’s nowhere for them to live.
That’s why I’m launching a statewide housing tour. I’ll be bringing renters, homeowners, builders, developers, municipal leaders, business owners, and advocates together in communities across Maine to listen and discuss real solutions.
I believe answers don’t come from Augusta alone. They come from the ground up, from people living the crisis every day and already testing the solutions. The path forward comes from listening, engaging, planning, and then delivering real action.
And when it comes to housing, my vision is that the next governor can turn local innovations, energy, and ideas into statewide solutions. We must accelerate the pace of new housing production in Maine — ensuring every family, every senior, and every worker has a place to call home.
I know how to do that because I’ve done it before. As Speaker of the House, I fought for and delivered long-term, sustainable funding for new housing production. After leaving office, I directed a community housing organization that helped families buy their first homes, built new rental housing, and provided weatherization support.
As director of the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future, I helped lead the fight for increased affordable housing production that has resulted in the largest pipeline in MaineHousing’s 50-year history. Our work included investments in rural rental housing, affordable homeownership, resident ownership of mobile home parks, housing for veterans and seniors, homelessness prevention, and home weatherization.
We didn’t just talk about ideas, we put real dollars into real projects that changed lives. Eighteen affordable apartments in Madison, built with modular construction through the Rural Affordable Rental Housing Program. Blueberry Fields Cooperative in Brunswick, which became the largest resident-owned mobile home community in Maine with support from the Mobile Home Park Preservation and Assistance Fund. Or Main View Apartments in Orono, where we extended affordability restrictions for another 20 years for low-income seniors, because of the State Affordable Housing Tax Credit that we helped pass in 2020.
These are only a few of the hundreds of housing projects underway to expand housing in Maine, and while they’ve made a difference, the shortage is urgent and widespread. That’s why I also oversaw the creation of two landmark reports to guide the long term work ahead.
The 2023 Housing Production Needs Study made clear that Maine is short about 84,000 homes, and the 2025 Housing Production Roadmap laid out practical, detailed recommendations. Those reports didn’t just sit on a shelf, they have shaped how Maine has taken action to solve the crisis.
But more needs to be done to meet the need.
Maine needs bold strategies to rapidly build new units, protect existing units, lower construction costs, and grow good-paying jobs. Predictable, ongoing state investments must support affordable rentals and home ownership opportunities, while also better utilizing vacant, historic and commercial properties, and USDA foreclosure properties that are currently sitting empty. Keeping Mainers housed also requires weatherization, repair programs, eviction prevention, and more support for mobile home park resident co-ops.
Partnership with communities to modernize zoning and streamline permitting will speed the pace of housing development. And Maine must increase its support for the trades and construction workforce through training, apprenticeships, and partnerships with unions and businesses.
With Maine companies already producing lumber, insulation, windows, and whole homes — and as the nation’s most forested state — we should lead the nation in innovative wood products for home construction, growing good-paying jobs, and a stronger rural economy in the process.
We need leaders willing to fight for solutions and to bring people together around them — Democrats, Republicans and independents. There is so much more work to be done and that’s what this tour is about. We started in Bangor this week, and we’re headed to towns large and small across the state.
Maine deserves a governor who doesn’t just talk about the housing crisis but owns it, someone with the experience, determination, and urgency to deliver real results. That’s the leadership I bring, and that’s a big part of why I am running.
This fall, I want to hear your story — what’s working, what’s not, and what you need to build a secure future. Together, we can ensure that every Mainer has a safe, affordable place to call home.
